>>40915831
Well, obviously a cyclical process if you cut it down to the basics. I think on a less obvious layer it also implies a not perfectly cyclical process. Far from a perfect circle, it shows a clear discontinuity. This is an important detail! A perfectly cyclical process is unrealistic within (or around) an entropic gradient. An alternative would be a diagram showing a clear I/O but conceptually that could miss the self contained point of it all. Linearize it for example and you got a sine wave that cuts itself upon X axis pass. Overall, it is an infinitely imperfect circle. Perhaps it tells us that even stable orbits can decay yet not even a three body problem has thus far destabilized our solar system all too much. You tell me ... historically I would be curious when it first popped up. Understood correctly the image is so obvious it could be very very old .... :}~<